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12 Questions with Trevor Bayne

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Trevor Bayne, the Roush Fenway Racing driver currently racing in his first full Sprint Cup Series season. Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Trevor Bayne, the Roush Fenway Racing driver currently competing in his first full Sprint Cup Series season.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: No way! (Laughs) I try not to be any more distracted than I already am. There's too many switches in these cars now to be messing with. I wouldn't want to add listening to music to that.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: My first paycheck came from DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) when I was 15. When I first started driving for them, I didn't get paid to drive their cars – I got paid to be in the shop 40 hours a week. I had to turn in my timesheet and do all that; it was like a real first job, you know?

What kinds of tasks did you do at the shop?

Anything, really. I actually worked on Paul Menard's team tearing down his race cars when they'd come in from the track that year. I'd have to go to the shop foreman and get him to sign off on my timesheet.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: Jeff Gordon's autograph when I was like 5 years old at Bristol. You've probably seen the picture. I went every year to Bristol and I'd find him at the Food City tent or the DuPont display and get his autograph. That was a big one to me.

Do you remember any of the meetings or do you just know about them from pictures?

I probably remember all of them. My dad did work with Food City, so we always had infield pit passes. I wasn't old enough to get in, but somehow we got in every year.

One time, I had a disposable camera and was taking pictures of the guys on pit road, and (then crew chief) Ray Evernham called me over the wall and took my camera and took a picture of me and Jeff on the pit road wall. That was probably the most memorable one to me.

Q: Where's a place you've never been that you'd like to go visit?

A: I've never been to Australia. I think that'd be pretty cool to go there. Really, the only time I've left the continent was to go to Kenya. So really, anywhere on any other continent would be cool.

A: The problem is I accuse my wife (Ashton) of that, so whenever I get on my phone, she's like, "Hey, what are you doing? You're always getting on me for that." So I'm probably the accuser most of the time. (Laughs)

So you feel like you're pretty good about not overdoing it?

Yeah. Have you seen my Instagram and Twitter? It's like once every month. (Laughs) I get in trouble for not being on it enough, probably.

Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: I've got about 73 hobbies, so I can deal with not having one of them. I think I can trade that out. I don't know what my favorite one would be though. Ashton always calls it my "Hobby of the Week" because I've got golf, woodworking, playing guitar, wakeboarding – I could go down the list forever. Guitar is my latest one though.

Have you taken guitar lessons or are you self-taught?

Would you consider YouTube to be lessons? You can learn about anything on there. That's what I've been doing.

Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: Go up and just give him a hug. No, I'm just kidding. (Laughs)

I try to avoid that in the first place, but when it does happen and whether or not I've done something wrong, I've kind of just learned to take the blame for it. Defending yourself never really works out that well because they obviously feel like you did something wrong to begin with, so when you try to explain yourself away, it seems to get worse. I think you've just got to take the heat for a minute, and when it calms down, you can have a real conversation about it.

You've got to be honest first and take some time to think about it. That's the same for any situation, whether it's dealing with another driver, a crew guy or you're just mad at yourself for making a mistake.

Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?

A: For a long time after Ricky vs. Trevor(Roush Fenway Racing's 2011 digital campaign to promote Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), people always called me Ricky and they were yelling at him about Trevor. I think they just got us mixed up. But other than that, not too often.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: Probably around 1992. Richard Petty was still in the sport, Jeff Gordon was about to come in, a lot of the older guys were still there. That was kind of the era of drivers I watched growing up. I don't know how the cars drove back then, but it would have been fun to race with those guys.

But I'd probably take flying. I could go back and forth from Knoxville, Tennessee, pretty easily and live at home.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Ryan Newman, and his question was: "What's the best question you haven't been asked yet?"

A: He's playing it backward here on me. Best question I haven't been asked yet? That's tough. I really don't know. I'll turn it back on him: "If Ryan Newman could be asked any question, what would he ask?"

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver? It's Erik Jones.

A: If there was something he could remind himself of in the future – once he's made it – what would he remind himself of or try to remember from this year? About himself, about his personality – whatever it is.

I feel like a lot of people never look back on that and don't think about who they really were when they came into the sport. They kind of might lose that down the road. So I always try to remind myself what it was like to first be in the sport – and be thankful for it.

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: Oh, I've got to give it a 10. How did you feel?

It was good!

Oh, I see. Not a 10 then? Alright. (Fakes looking disappointed, then laughs)

Posted!

Kurt Busch, addressing the media at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 12, was suspended by NASCAR eight days later after a Delaware family court commissioner issued a no-contact order against him stemming from a domestic abuse claim made by his former girlfriend.
Peter Casey, USA TODAY Sports

Feb. 15: Jeff Gordon and his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, celebrate after Gordon won the pole for the 2015 Daytona 500 in a controversial group qualifying session. Gordon announced in January that 2015 will be his last full-time season in NASCAR's premier series.
Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images

Feb. 21: Safety crews attend to Kyle Busch, whose car slammed into an unprotected wall during the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Busch broke his right leg and left foot and the safety debate began raging again.
Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

March 1: Front Row Motorsports driver David Ragan moved over to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch, who was recovering from injuries suffered in a crash at Daytona. Ragan's first race with JGR was at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images

March 1: For the second week in a row, a NASCAR driver crashed into an unprotected concrete wall. This time it was Jeff Gordon (24) and Denny Hamlin (not shown) during the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon met with NASCAR officials March 10 to discuss safety initiatives.
Russell Norris, AP

March 8: After missing the first two races of the season recovering from heart surgery, Brian Vickers returned to racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, Michael Waltrip Racing announced the driver would be sidelined again because of a recurrence of blood clots.
Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports

March 22: Kevin Harvick, front, finished second at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Calif., extending his streak of top-two finishes to eight consecutive races. The streak would end the following week at Martinsville Speedway.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images

March 28: Kyle Larson was hospitalized after fainting at Martinsville Speedway following an autograph session. Larson missed the STP 500 at Martinsville the following day. He was released Monday night and completed 'extensive testing' Tuesday.
Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

April 19: Denny Hamlin drove 22 laps of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway when rains halted the race. When the race restarted hours later, 18-year-old Erik Jones was behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota after Hamlin pulled out because of neck spasms.
Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images

April 24: A scary fire erupted on pit road during the Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway, sending crew members from Brendan Gaughan's No. 62 team and Eric McClure's No. 24 team to a hospital.
Skip Rowland, AP

May 16: Kyle Busch returned to racing at the the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after missing almost three months with a broken right leg and left foot.
Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports

June 7: Martin Truex Jr. wins at Pocono Raceway to break a 69-race winless streak dating nearly two years. The following week at Michigan International Speedway, Truex became the first driver since Richard Petty in 1969 to record 14 top-10 finishes through the first 15 races.
Matthew O'Haren, USA TODAY Sports

July 6: Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet flies into the catchfence at Daytona International Speedway after cars crossed the finish line in the Coke Zero 400. Dillon's car was ripped apart but he walked away from the crash uninjured.
Reinhold Matay, USA TODAY Sports

July 9: Ben Kennedy crashes into the fence and wall at Kentucky Speedway during the Camping World Truck Series race. Kennedy's crash was the second in one week which saw a vehicle slam into the catchfence.
Jeff Curry, Getty Images

July 26: Jeff Gordon (24) hits the wall while trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bower (not shown) during The Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard in his final race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Gordon is NASCAR's career leader at the track with five wins.
Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports

July 26: Kyle Busch celebrates with wife Samantha, son Brexton, and team owner Joe Gibbs after winning the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard for his first win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory was Busch's third in a row and fourth in the past five races.
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 11: Denny Hamlin arrived at Richmond International Raceway on crutches after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Sept. 8. One week later, Hamlin would go on to win the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway.
Amber Searls, USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 20: Kevin Harvick (4) spins after contact with Jimmie Johnson (48) a few laps earlier cut his tire during the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland Speedway. Harvick finished 42nd and punched Johnson in the chest after the race when Johnson tried to apologize.
Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images

Sept. 23: Clint Bowyer was docked 25 points and crew chief Billy Scott was suspended for three races and fined $75,000 after the team was found to have violated a rule in during inspection at Chicagoland Speedway. The penalty erased his result in the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, leaving him last in the standings entering Chase race 2 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Josh Hedges, Getty Images